A Franklin Park police spokeswoman on Friday said police are not commenting because the incident remains under investigation.

Neighbors told the newspaper that a second person also was hurt and that Harrison's son was taken to UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. A hospital spokesman said the family does not want information released.

Harrison lives about 15 miles north of the city.

In 2006, then-Steelers linebacker Joey Porter was cited by police in Pine Township, another suburb north of Pittsburgh, after two of his dogs got loose and killed a miniature horse on a nearby farm. Northern Regional Police said then that Porter's dogs were licensed in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., but not in Allegheny County.

Harrison is the NFL Defensive Player of the Year and scored on a 100-yard interception return in the team's 27-23 victory over Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII. He made headlines for declining to join the Steelers on a White House visit Thursday, though he passed up the same opportunity after the Steelers beat Seattle in Super bowl XL in 2006.

Re: Steeler Harrison's pit bull attacks young son

I have a "pit". We got her when she was six years old, and at that time, Sami was barely four. For the first few weeks, we did not let Maggie around Sami unless we were there. Maggie never once showed any sort of agression towards Sami or any other kid - but twice in the first few months after we got her, our home was broken into. One time, Maggie went through a window to chase the person. The second time, I came home and found blood on the floor - and a broken window, an unlocked door, and a very mad dog.
Today Maggie is pushing 11 years - old for a "pit". She's grouchy if you wake her up, she's lazy, and still likes to go after squirrels. If you want to see a mean dog, I'll introduce you to Stupid. She's ten times meaner than Maggie - but she loves kids.
I hate to say this, but I put this on the parents, not the dog. The dog was acting on instincts and what it was trained to do.

Re: Steeler Harrison's pit bull attacks young son

Originally Posted by Nibiru2012

First of all it's not the breed, it's the owners, iv'e owned pits my hole life and everyone has been great around kids, actually if you look the breed up on any dog breed website they all describe pits as great family dog's. It's all how you raise them, they were originally breed for fighting reasons so when you own pits you have to teach them that fighting is not allowed and you have to be the leader of the pack.

Pitbull's are great dog's it's just that to many African American's get them to look tough and to fight and they raise them in pens like they are in jail so when they get loose they go attack something because that is what they are teaching them to do.That is why they have a bad name.

The dog was originally bread to fight. It's really not a great family pet if there are numerous cases where children are killed by the dog. You can blame the owner but not every person that gets a dog is going to be a great owner. Is it really worth the risk/reward of getting a pitbull. It could potentially be a nice pet but there is a chance it could kill your children.

Just get a golden retreiver or another family pet if you want a dog. How often do you hear about golden retreivers getting out and killing children or small horses even if it has a bad owner.

Re: Steeler Harrison's pit bull attacks young son

The dog was originally bread to fight. It's really not a great family pet if there are numerous cases where children are killed by the dog.

Just get a golden retreiver or another family pet if you want a dog. How often do you hear about golden retreivers getting out and killing children or small horses even if it has a bad owner.

see thats were your wrong... pitbulls were bread to fight, but supposedly the pitbull is extremely good with kids if raised from a pup correctly. The NSPCA says that one of the best dogs with children, are actually pitbulls. Its the owner not the dog.

Never blame it on the dog. blame it on careless owners. I was raised with pitbulls since i was 4 years old. i my sister or my cousins have never been attacked. and Dog fighting is huge where i come from.

Re: Steeler Harrison's pit bull attacks young son

Just get a golden retreiver or another family pet if you want a dog. How often do you hear about golden retreivers getting out and killing children or small horses even if it has a bad owner.

I'll guarantee you that if anyone was to try to enter my home, my pit would end up watching my golden retirever (what you call a family dog) rip someone a new...exit. The mean dog I describe above is a golden retriever. Don't get me wrong, she's a good loyal pet, but any dog who can take down a groundhog and an opossum within 15 minutes while a pit bull looks on isn't exactly something you want to mess with. Seriously - look at the claws on one of these dudes. They are made to dig and dig fast. Don't you think they could rip up a dog fairly quick?
This is a groundhog. They are VERY territorial.
This is an opossum. They have many sharp little things in their mouth they call teeth.

My 8 year old daughter says pit bulls are awesome dogs. Boston terriers, OTOH, she calls "practice footballs" since they like to try to bite ankles. Figure the rest out.

Seriously, one of our neighbors has FOUR giant babies called pit bulls. They don't know me at all, and I took care of them a couple of weeks ago. They growled at me at first, but once I talked to the four of them for a minute, I was their buddy - yes, they attacked me. They licked me half to death.

Re: Steeler Harrison's pit bull attacks young son

How often do you hear about other dogs killing their owner's infants. Anybody can get a pitbull which is a problem. There are a lot of irresponsible people around. The pit bull does this more than any other dog and it really isn't worth the risk. The dog is capable of attacking and that attracts some owner's and it creates a very dangerous situation.

There is a reason that the pit bull is banned in some places in the US and it's because the dog is so dangerous. Maybe if every owner was very responsible there wouldn't be any problems with attacks but it isn't a perfect world and it's really not worth all of the death's. Maybe if you guys knew people who experienced an attack first hand your opinion would be different.

Re: Steeler Harrison's pit bull attacks young son

Personally, I have been bitten by a chihuahua, a boston terrier, 2 cocker spaniels, a labrador, and most severly by a rottwieler. I used to date a girl who worked in a vet's office, so I was around a lot of animals. The only dog that never took a bite at me was a pit.

90%+ of these so-called pit bull attacks are dogs which are misidentified. Around here, any dog that attacks someone is labeled a pit, but later on, they find the dog, and it's usually some mistreated mutt, or a boxer, or labrador, or some other breed entirely.

We have a pit bull law, and guess what? Dogs are still biting people. Of course, now it's the "non-dangerous" breeds who are biting. People just don't understand that ANY dog will bite if provoked, and more often than not, it's a lack of responsible ownership that is the true problem.

Re: Steeler Harrison's pit bull attacks young son

I doubt Harrison expected his dog to attack his son either,dogs are much like humans in the fact that they can go off at any time for whatever reason,if you have young children you are better off with a dog who may bite you if it gets pissed off rather than a dog who will tear a child apart in seconds. For you guys that own these dogs thats fine that you are able to tame them to be great house pets,I would choose a different type of dog if I had children.